


An Unlikely Bonding Session

by TwoPercentMalk



Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Amity wins out in the end though :), F/F, Gus becomes the ultimate wingman, Latina? Latin?, The gifted kids do be bonding doe, They're just a single letter off, but come on, except not really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:08:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28325085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwoPercentMalk/pseuds/TwoPercentMalk
Summary: Amity approaches Gus for human-related help. What could Amity Blight possibly need from him, though? Perhaps there's more in common between them than they expect...
Relationships: Amity Blight/Luz Noceda
Comments: 13
Kudos: 198





	An Unlikely Bonding Session

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this idea brewing in my tiny lil noggin for a while now, so here's a Christmas present from me unto you :)
> 
> Also, @nikky_dash on Twitter made a drawing based off this fanfic! Go follow them if you don’t already, they’re one of my favorite artists that I found through TOH!
> 
> https://twitter.com/nikky_dash/status/1342628063704702978?s=21

The Human Appreciation Society’s headquarters was, as usual, a mess. The spare classroom that had been given to the H.A.S. as a base of operations never saw any other use, so dust had begun to coat every available surface, and seemed immune to any attempts to sweep it away, whether by magic or through more menial methods. The desks that filled the room, neatly lined up like soldiers falling into line, were covered in heaps of human knick-knacks and artifacts, messily sorted into various categories: Toys, Furniture, Food (???), and, of course, the Forbidden Hoard. No one wanted to volunteer to investigate its contents, so it sat in the back of the room, an ever-present phantom looming over them.

Having cordoned off the Hoard, Gus looked over his handiwork. The club room, which formerly looked like a category five gorenado had swept through it, now appeared as if it could actually support life and, more importantly, the Human Appreciation Society’s academic pursuits. Sure, Gus might be considered an eccentric weirdo amongst his peers, even by the other members of the H.A.S., but this wasn’t just some childish make-believe game. This was real research! How had humans, beings without magic that were considered weak in both body and mind, come so far, and developed so many intricate technologies? Though many witches considered them to be inferior due to their inability to cast spells, they had to have found alternatives, and Gus would be the one to shed light upon these truths, no matter the adversity he faced! 

True, most of his findings had been completely shut down after Luz arrived in the Boiling Isles, but now he had the most credible source possible to cite in his research. No more relying on cheesy human magazines coughed up by trash slugs! Even if the puzzles inside were entertaining… Gus had tried to convince his father to introduce ‘crosswords’ to the staff of the Boiling Bugle, but that was easier said than done, especially when they seemed to heavily cite human trivia. How was he supposed to know what a ‘golf’ was? After numerous discussions with Luz, Gus had come to the conclusion that human sports were both bizarre and incredibly inane.

A knock at the door interrupted Gus’s train of thought on the absurdity of whacking small balls into rabbit holes. He was puzzled; the H.A.S. wasn’t set to meet for another two days, and no one else used this classroom. Unless someone had come by with a human oddity to be examined, but that was unlikely. Gus was the one who brought in the majority of their curios, unless you counted Mattholomule’s poorly disguised attempts at recreating human trinkets. Come on, no witch in their right mind would believe they hung miniature trees in their mechanical carts. He had been oddly insistent about that one, too.

The knock sounded again, louder and more insistent. With a sigh, Gus tore himself away from the assortment of dice he was moving from the Food (???) pile to the Toys section, at Luz’s insistence that they weren’t meal replacement pills. They were tentative to try any of the potential human foods, especially after Luz developed a nasty allergy to some Boiling Isles ingredients, like bogbeets. Gus wasn’t even sure  _ he _ wanted to eat bogbeets again after that. She spent a week looking like she had been swarmed by an entire hive of butcher bees.

By the time Gus reached the door, the knocking had resumed, and whoever was at the door was obviously irritated. With a great heave, he yanked open the door and prepared to enter curator mode. Even if he had been ousted from his role as president, he could still maintain an air of professionalism.

“Welcome to the Human Appreci- oh. Hi. Not who I thought I’d see here.”

Standing in the doorway, frozen in place fist raised as if preparing to knock again, was the last person Gus had expected. Okay, maybe not the  _ last _ person, but definitely in the top five.

Amity Blight furrowed her brow, her mouth twisted into a small frown. “Did my siblings not tell you I’d be dropping by?”

“We’re in the same class, but that doesn’t mean we’re all buddy-buddy,” Gus shrugged, opening the door wider so the witch could step through. Her lips were drawn in a tight, thin line, and her arms hugged her sides like she didn’t know how to let them hang naturally.

“They had  _ one _ job,” she hissed, pinching the bridge of her nose. Gus instinctively backed away a few small steps. Sure, she’d been friendlier recently, especially when Luz was around, but she was still Amity Blight, and he knew firsthand just how disastrous it could be when she got angry. Even if she was an Abomination track student, and a prodigy at that, she had an aptitude for fire magic that was… worrying, to say the least.

“So, uh, anyway, welcome to the Human Appreciation Society!” Drawing a quick spell circle, Gus reached into his pockets and flung an illusion of confetti into the air, accompanied by glowing blue words that hovered overhead, reading  _ ‘GET OUT!’ _ “I thought I got rid of the negative ones!” he winced, waving his hands through the illusion.

Amity raised a thin eyebrow. “Does that happen often?”

“I thought it would be a good idea to cover all my bases, but Willow made me get rid of them.” Gus sighed in relief as the illusion fizzled into nothingness, brushing imaginary dust off of his uniform. “Alright, take two. What brings you to this most humble of clubrooms? You’re, err, not exactly the kind of person I would expect to come here. Abominations being on the other side of the building and all.”

The witch’s posture seemed to deflate, as if all of the tension in her body had been released at once. “I wanted to ask for help. It’s about Luz.” The look in her eyes seemed anxious, uneasy, like an animal that had been backed into a corner by some unseen threat. Gus couldn’t think of any reason she might feel that way. Unless…

“What did you do?” he demanded, and Amity visibly flinched.  _ Flinched. _ Because of  _ him _ . Maybe there was too much venom in his voice, but Luz was one of his closest friends, one of his  _ only _ friends, and she had already gone through enough turmoil in her short time on the Isles. Besides, Amity didn’t exactly have the best track record when it came to this sort of thing. Even if Luz insisted on giving her a chance, he worried. Luz was one of the few people who really liked him just for being himself. Not because he had a talent for illusions at such a young age, not because he skipped multiple levels to enter Hexside two years before most. Just for being plain, dorky, melodramatic Gus.

“I didn’t do anything!” Amity insisted, holding up her hands as if trying to block a physical blow. “At least, I don’t think I did. Was something wrong?”

“No, I just… jumped to conclusions. Sorry. Come on, let’s go sit down.”

She followed him tentatively to the nearest desk, easing herself into the chair as if it might try to bite her, which, this being the Boiling Isles, wasn’t all that unlikely.

“I wanted some advice...:” she muttered, wringing her hands. “Can you teach me about humans? Or about human things you know she likes? After what happened at the Emperor’s palace, with the portal and everything, I just thought…”

Gus pursed his lips. He understood exactly what she meant. Luz had told them about the destruction of Eda’s portal to the human realm, trying to play it off as just a minor inconvenience, but it was obviously eating her up inside. He wasn’t the best at picking up social or emotional cues, but having your one way home ripped away in an instant, being forced to give it up to save others? There was no way that wouldn’t haunt you. Luz would regale them with stories about her and her mother. Going camping together, watching cheesy romance movies her mother liked, cooking traditional foods together. Even if they struggled to understand each other, there was love there. There had to be a way for her to go back. They had to believe that they could find a way, for her sake.

“You’re trying to bring a piece of home to the Boiling Isles for her.”

Amity nodded timidly. “After everything she’s done for me - I mean, for  _ all _ of us… I need to repay her somehow.”

Gus scratched the side of his head, racking his brain for ideas.

“Sometimes she slips into that strange language when she talks, right? Why not try to learn it?”

“That’s… actually not a bad idea.” Amity drummed her fingers on the table. “But I want it to be a surprise. She’s already teaching Eda glyphs. And  _ Lilith _ .” She spat the other witch’s name as if just saying it left a vile taste in her mouth. “I don’t want to pressure her even more.”

“Well, there was one time she was describing different countries and cultures and stuff, and she called herself a Latina,” Gus murmured thoughtfully. “We have plenty of books on Latin. Seems like it’s one of the few languages shared between our worlds. You could try studying those.”

“Are you sure? It doesn’t sound like Latin when she talks.”

“Yeah, but we’re literally a world apart. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s evolved differently.”

Gus got up to browse the bookshelves that lined the room, filled with everything from human brochures to guides on how to construct strange machines from small bricks, and, of course, the few language encyclopedias that had managed to survive in the Boiling Isles. Most of them were completely foreign to everyone who had come across them, but Latin seemed to be one of the few languages both realms had in common. If languages could find their way from one dimension to another, did that mean there was another, more concrete connection between the human realm and the Isles? Trash slugs were often found to have eaten garbage that seemed to have human origins, but was there a similar way in which things from their world could bleed over? No, no, not right now. Theorizing could come later.

He plucked a few books from the shelf, dropping them in front of Amity with a puff of dust and a resounding thud. She didn’t say anything to acknowledge it, but immediately began skimming through the first book on the stack,  _ Latine Simplex _ , like she already knew exactly what she was looking for. Gus considered asking for help, but she was already buried in the textbook, and he didn’t want to risk irritating her. Besides, it seemed like whatever she wanted to say was private, and who was he to pry? He flipped through another Latin encyclopedia to distract himself, but didn’t absorb any of the information. This was beginner-level material, and he’d already memorized most of it. He half-expected Amity to ask for help in decoding and translating the language; it wasn’t commonplace on the Boiling Isles, and, from what he’d gathered from books, it was rarely used in Luz’s realm. But Amity remained quiet, hurriedly thumbing through the textbook, jotting down notes on a piece of paper she’d yanked out of her bookbag with a violent tearing sound.

“How do you know Latin?” Gus blurted out, before even realizing what he was doing. He waited for Amity to scoff at him, or just ignore him completely, but she proved her ability to improve herself once again.

“My parents,” she muttered, eyes still fixated on the text, but frozen, staring at a single spot on the page. “Even though Latin’s only really used in old writings and fancy jewelry, my parents made me learn it. Probably just to flaunt the fact that I knew this elegant, ancient language.”

Her jaw had clenched tight, her muscles working as if she was barely holding herself back from saying more. Gus had struck a nerve, whether he meant to or not. He tried to maintain a straight face, but berated himself internally. Everyone knew that the Blights were strict, cold people. Even though he wasn’t particularly close to the Blight twins, he could tell how much pressure they put on their children to keep up appearances. That just wasn’t fair; they’re  _ kids _ .

“I taught myself,” he replied, banishing the tense silence. “Well, my Dad helped too.” Amity didn’t reply, her attention still glued to the page in front of her while she rested her forehead on one hand. Gus continued anyway; he was good at being an open book, for better or for worse.

“When I skipped ahead of my classmates and applied to get into Hexside early, I had to take another test alongside the standard entrance exam. Measure how much illusion magic I  _ really _ knew, and if it was enough to live up to Hexside’s standards.”

“I didn’t know you used Latin in illusion magic.” Amity hadn’t turned her head, but her sight was now clearly focused on Gus. Those piercing gold eyes were unnerving; it felt as if they were prying into his very being. But something softer seemed to shine from behind, some unknown force he hadn’t seen in her before. Or, at least, until Luz barreled her way into their lives.

“We don’t use it much, really,” he shrugged. “Illusions magic is all about practical application. Picturing something in your mind’s eye, completely committing it to memory, and recreating it with your magic. If you don’t, your illusion will end up flimsy, easily spotted and erased. But some old texts use Latin to expand upon the idea, to put it into words. I spent weeks studying them, not to mention all the time it actually took to learn Latin and translate them. Everyone here is at least two years my senior; I have to put in twice the amount of work to be recognized. Even when I’m in an advanced class, on par with older students like your siblings, it’s never enough. There’s always that nagging doubt.  _ Do I really belong here? What if I can’t keep up? What happens to everything I’ve worked toward? _ That’s never happened, but that little voice in the back of your mind is always there.”

If the silence that had occurred after Amity mentioned her parents was bad, this was infinitely worse. It felt like gravity had increased on them, pressing them deeper into their seats while they remained alone with their thoughts.

_ Did I say too much? _ Gus asked himself, nervously chewing his lower lip.  _ I know people aren’t usually as open about their negative emotions, but I don’t mind discussing it as much… and I pushed Amity to bring up her parents, it was only fair to open up myself, right? _

That agonizing inner monologue was brought to a halt by a strange, hiccupping noise from Amity. Gus twisted to face her, distraught. Did he really make her cry?

_ Ugh, why do I have to mess everything up when I have to talk to people? _

The hitched noises continued, but Amity turned her head to face him, a small grin on her face. Her pale face was completely clear, no signs of tears anyway. She was  _ laughing _ .

“I know that feeling,” she chuckled. “You have class with Ed and Em, you know they’re prodigies, but I’ve always had to work for my achievements. I pulled an all-nighter last night because I heard the teacher mention we’d have a pop quiz some time this week. It wasn’t even today.” She laughed again, sniffling slightly as she sat upright to properly face Gus. “The twins get away with pretty much whatever they want, as long as it’s not too obvious and they keep up their grades, but I never got that liberty. The only reason I had time to come here today was because I got Ed and Em to cover for me and tell our parents that I volunteered to help my professor after school.”

Another period of silence ensued, but much more comfortable than before. Amity went back to skimming through the tower of textbooks before her, jotting down notes on words and their translations. The two witches were surprisingly similar. They’d just had to approach life from different avenues, whether they wanted to or not. Amity was a bright witch. She deserved to be friends with Luz without fearing the repercussions from her parents. They clearly made each other happy. Gus never spent much time alone with Amity, but Luz was singing her praises all the time when she wasn’t there. And Amity was willing to go through all this effort, just to bring a sense of familiarity into the human’s life…

Oh,

_ Oh. _

Gus’s mouth formed a perfect O-shape as the last piece of the puzzle clicked into place, before swivelling to face the other witch with a smug grin on his face.

“You like Luz, don’t you, Amity?”

The girl made a sound like she’d just choked on abomination goo.

“I - I mean, yeah, she’s a good friend, and nice to everyone, and constantly strives to improve herself, and - ”

“Mhm, go on.”

After a pause, she slumped over in her seat, hiding her furiously blushing face behind her arms. “Okay, so maybe I do. Ugh, why do I have to be so obvious?! First Willow, then the twins, now you…”

“Wait, Willow? The twins, too? How late am I to realizing this?”

“By at least two weeks.” Amity’s laughter was muffled behind her arms. Oh, well. Gus had never been great with picking up on that kind of stuff. But now the gears in his brain were turning rapidly.

“I think Latin might be the way to her heart…”

~~~

“ _ Que lo que _ , Amity? Is something wrong?”

Amity had been particularly jumpy all day, and it seemed to just get worse as time went on. Just as the final bell of the day rang (well, screamed), she’d pulled Luz aside outside the abominations classroom, sweating profusely. She smoothed out the imaginary wrinkles in her uniform, eyes closed and lips moving ever-so-slightly, as if she was reciting something to herself.

“Luz…  _ Vos facere in dies clarior. Vis ut prandium simul? _ ”

She gripped the hem of her robe tightly, staring so intensely at the floor it looked as if it might melt under her gaze. Luz could pick out a couple words, those she recognized from a class she took years ago, but…

“Um, Amity? I speak Spanish, not Latin.”

The witch’s head snapped up like she’d been shocked, face completely drained of the color that had been blooming across it just a moment earlier.

“B - but… Latina?”  


“It’s a long story, involving lots of human history stuff I don’t remember.” Luz couldn’t help but burst into a fit of giggles, but immediately fell quiet when she saw how distraught Amity was.  “Hey, I can teach you some Spanish, if you want?” She placed a tentative hand on her shoulder, concern etched onto her face.

The witch still looked defeated, but, with a tremendous amount of effort, she pulled Luz’s hand from her shoulder, taking it in her own and offering a shy smile.

“...I’d like that.”

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> My boy Gus deserves more character development, and I can relate to both him and Amity as a former "gifted kid," so I wanted to explore that. Plus, I thought it would be funny for Gus's (lack of) human knowledge to skew everything. Justice for Gus. Gustice?
> 
> The whole mistaking Spanish for Latin was inspired by a scene from In Your Orbit by AtticusKaine. It's a great fanfic, go check it out!
> 
> Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all, and to all a good... afternoon? It's 3 PM at the time of posting this, so I guess that works. Whatever.
> 
> \---
> 
> "Que lo que?" = Dominican slang for "what's up?"
> 
> "Vos facere in dies clarior. Vis ut prandium simul?" = roughly translates to "You make every day brighter. Would you like to get dinner together?" 
> 
> This is a super rough translation, though, since I've forgotten pretty much everything from my Latin classes, and I ended up using a translator lmao


End file.
